How to Dye Asian Hair White (at Home & Without Breaking the Bank!)

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I have always been very adventurous when it comes to hair color but ever since I went full-on blonde, I started getting a lot of questions about how to dye Asian hair white. It gets crazy sometimes because strangers I meet on the streets stop me to ask how I did it, how much I paid for it and where I had my hair done so I finally decided to write a blog post.

There are thousands of tutorials on YouTube and blog posts on how to turn natural dark or Asian black hair to white but many of those that I watched were done by professionals in a salon that’s why they achieved platinum white hair color in one day. I took a different and long route and if you’re interested to find out how I got my Khaleesi blonde hair, read on!

Let me just say that bleaching black hair to white is HARD especially if you DIY it and have zero background in hair cosmetology. The only knowledge I have on bleaching are the ones I have learned from YouTube tutorials (I watched a looot!) and blog tutorials. I am not going to sugar coat this- because I chose to semi-DIY it, it took me MONTHS to get to this point where I’m happy with the color.

Reason why I took the long process: My scalp refuses to take more than 2 bleaching sessions in a day and I cannot afford to have it done at the salon! LOL

Another fact (based on my experience!), it can be next to impossible to get to that banana-yellow color that you need before you can tone it to white/platinum effectively without multiple bleaching sessions. And if you do it at home, do not push your luck and bleach your hair multiple times in a day (or even within a week), because it will damage your hair or worse, you will lose your crowning glory. I highly suggest NOT DOING THIS!

To achieve this color, I did a slow transition with months or weeks in between bleaching sessions. This, with a lot of hair pampering before and after bleaching, I still lost a lot of hair to breakage. My hair took a lot of abuse but since I was determined to dye my hair white, I was willing to compromise my hair’s health. I decided that if my hair gets too damaged to a point of no return, I would just shave everything off. Ha!

Okay, enough blabbing and on to the tutorial! Please note that I am not a professional, this is based on my personal granny hair journey. When in doubt, please seek professional advise!

How to Dye Asian Hair White

I started my transition by asking my auntie Mafet (who happens to be a professional hair stylist/colorist) to bleach my hair for me when I went home in Iligan City last June 2018. I was too scared to bleach my hair on my own, so I took the opportunity to have her do it for me during my short visit. Most importantly, she does my hair for free! 😀

If you are in Iligan City and in need of a hair stylist/make-up artist, just let me know, I can hook you up with her! You can also find her at Andrea Jo Beauty Salon and Health Spa in Abalos Building, Iligan City.

Initial bleaching (June 2018) – 3 times in a span of 2 days. Crazy I know. My scalp burned like hell but whatevs. It turned out like this. Took this photo on the boat on my way back to Cebu. Not white but I loved it!

Next bleaching session(August 2018)– done by my aunt again last August when I went back to Iligan. Still not white but I was in love with my blonde hair.

IMPORTANT TIP: There was an almost 5-month gap in between the touch-up, please DO NOT wait this long before doing your root touch-up unless you want to have hair color banding! This will then be harder to get rid of! I had about 2 inches of growth and the banding was so frustrating to look at! LOL

After that, I was confident in doing it on my own.

Tipping my Blonde Hair Over the Edge to Make it White

-> Tone like Crazy!

Once you’ve lifted your hair color to a super light blonde (see last photo above) you then tone, tone, and tone. Regular toning is the key! At least once a week. That’s the only way to turn and keep white. Without toning, your hair will turn yellow especially if you use shampoos that are not sulfate-free.

To be honest, my hair sometimes turns yellowish if I get lazy and skip toning for more than a week. And this is inevitable! Having white hair is high-maintenance. If you do not have the patience, forget about having white hair.

I use purple shampoos and purple conditioners to deposit purple color on my blonde hair to counteract the yellow/brassy color so it will look white. I have tried Clairol Shimmer Lights Purple Shampooto tone my hair and this one is potent. If you leave it on too long, it will leave purple/bluish color especially on over-processed hair. I always mix this with a regular shampoo to tone the tint down a bit and avoid over toning. I leave it on for about 5 minutes only because my hair is so porous already, it absorbs the tint quickly.

Lately, I have been skipping purple shampoo and use purple conditioner instead because it is less intense which means lesser chances of over-toning your hair.

I’m currently using EVA-NYC’s Tone it Down! Blonde Conditioner. I bought it from the SM Store here in Cebu but it’s also available on Amazon for those outside the country.

-> Root touch-up every 2 weeks or so

Again, you do not want that hair color banding! You need to do your roots every 2-4 weeks depending on how fast your hair grows. I now bleach my hair on my own, I just buy bleach powder and developer. Depending on how yellow my hair has become, I use 30% or 40% developer. It really depends on how much lift I want and time I have to do it. But that’s just me.

Please follow manufacturer’s instructions!

You can check the prices for developers on Amazon HERE and for bleach powders HERE

-> Hair Bleach Bath

I do spot hair bleach bath at least once every month to get rid of the color banding left from that time when I waited 5 months before getting a touch up or if I feel like my hair is turning too yellow to my liking. Of course, you still need to tone after. Without toning, I doubt if you can turn asian hair platinum.

I do bleach bath because I do not want to subject my hair to damaging process more than I have to. Bleach bath is just plain bleach powder and developer mixed PLUS conditioner (I use 1:1:1 or 1:1:2 ratio) and applied to the darker portions of the hair for lifting. The conditioner weakens the chemicals thus less damaging. You do not have to do this unless necessary! Again, I mostly do this to slowly get rid of the banding. Better yet, have a professional do color correction for yah.

I’m just a cheap gal that’s why I do color correction on my own. This doesn’t mean I’m doing it right.

My slow transition to white hair. Slow and arduous.

The result – super worth it in the end for me!

Products for White Hair Maintenance

Here are products that I use to keep my hair white. Toning is essential to keep Asian hair blonde, especially that this is not our natural color. It’s a little hard to find them here in Cebu that I have to order online most of the time.

Closing – Let me end this by saying my hair is not white all the time. I can claim that I get to keep my Queen Daenerys hair for a max of 3-4 days before it starts to turn yellow again especially if I wash it everyday. Then I tone it again. But because toners leave your hair super dry, I use it just once a week, usually on Saturday or Sunday.

I’m super happy with it right now! Will I change my hair color again in the future? Maybe. Not Sure. I still don’t know because right now, I am loving my hair color.

Now, bend the knee.

Kidding! Leave your questions in the comment section below!

Much Love,

Jhanis

Disclaimer: Not sponsored. I purchased everything mentioned on this post and opinions are my own and not to be taken as professional advice.